Another Ex-Buc Calls No Winning Season
September 9th, 2011
Yesterday, Joe brought you the heavy-hearted 7-9 Bucs season prediction of Shaun King. Now it’s former defensive tackle Brad Culpepper’s turn.
Speaking on The Dan Sileo Show on WDAE-AM 620, Culpepper said he sees an improved Buccaneers but a .500 team.
“I think they’re a better team than last year. I think they have fewer wins than last year,” Culpepper said. “Last year, they got a way with a couple that you don’t normally get away with. They had everything bounce their way in some games. Quite frankly, I don’t think they were a 10-win team last year.
“The defense is better. I think they still going to struggle on defense.” … I think they’re offense is awesome. I love the guys on offense.”
Culpepper went on to say Gerald McCoy has yet to prove anything and “by the third or fourth game he really needs to be coming on.”
Culpepper, who started alongside Warren Sapp from 1996-1999, said Sapp didn’t have much success his first season and that left him lacking confidence. Culpepper said Sapp having success, gaining confidence from it and honing his inside moves in Year 2 led to an explosion to where he was the best defensive player in football in his third season.
The Bucs sure are racking up plenty of bulletin board/iPad material.
September 9th, 2011 at 9:29 am
Another expert and former-buc in the “hater” column. Can we all be haters or are we using a little objectivity?
Did the solid-ex-buc Defensive Tackle just say that the team had some fluke wins last year and that Gerald McCoy hasnt done anything yet and needs to start producing now?
As much as you sheep hate it, it is undeniable that McCoy has been a disappointment for a #3 overall to date. That is all that I have been saying about him. He disappears on the field game-after-game. Frank Okam shows up much more frequently, Price as well when healthy. GMC is probably better than Miller who just stinks.
I agree that the story has not ended on GMC, I give him credit for working hard in the offseason to improve. The fact of the matter is he hasn’t been even decent.
September 9th, 2011 at 9:44 am
I hate people that say there are games a team shouldn’t have won. There’s two games we lost we should have won. Every team has those games and they balance themselves out. With that said I believe this an extremely important year for Dominic and Raheem with winning/losing the fan base. I’m not excited with our 3rd down back or rookie linebacker. If Dominc wises up quickly and addresses those two weakness then I see 9-7. Otherwise 8-8 or worse is in the cards and season ticket holders go down.
September 9th, 2011 at 9:46 am
culpepper and king in the afraid of commitment column
thomas in the stupid column
bucs were a 10 win team last year last time I checked….
September 9th, 2011 at 10:22 am
I love this team, and predicted they would be successful last, when few did. But Culpepper is being truthful. We lost some experience and talent that we didn’t replace. We had some problem areas last year, that we didn’t adress. So they will be problem areas again. Areas that otherł teams have identified and will attack. But I still don’t see Josh losing . I have predicted 8-8. I revise that tO 9-7
September 9th, 2011 at 10:25 am
I don’t believe in the “games you should have lost/won argument”. In any game of any sport individuals/teams create opportunities to put themselves in positions to win. Even if one wants to make the argument that things “bounced their way” in some situations it’s because the Bucs coaching staff and/or players put themselves in the best position to have things so-called “bounce their way”.
September 9th, 2011 at 10:26 am
I agree with you Thomas as usual, people just dont see the big picture, they got rose colored glasses, and lots of RHeem Kool-aide, and they expect the Bucs to be unstoppable, they just are a very beatable team, as i said before all these guys who love the team at 10-6 will be there to say its the schedule, they got bad breaks, excuses, excuses, excuses, accept who you are and stop living in a fairy-tail world.
September 9th, 2011 at 10:27 am
“You are what your record says you are” Bill Parcels.
I’ll take his word over King and Culpepper.
September 9th, 2011 at 10:38 am
So what if there were some that we shouldn’t have won, there were also some that we should have.
You take some wins away, you add some wins and end up at about the same place.
Sure everything went our way in some games, in others we had no luck at all, when you start that many rookies and have so many on IR it’s fairly obvious that not everything went our way.
You only have to look as far as the Lions game from last season to see that we didn’t have it all go our way, a ref screwed up the Winslow TD that cost us the game, we were facing CJ with a secondary missing Talib, Jackson, Grimm. Throw in that we were missing our top 2 draft picks (both at DT) through injury along with 4 5ths of our oline being replacements, it sure looks like last year we had no games that went against us.
It’s all good looking at the things that went our way but unless you look at the full picture and include both sides of the story it just makes you look like a hater or idiot. We finsihed 10-6 therefore we were 10-6, there is no “I don’t think they were a 10-win team last year.”
September 9th, 2011 at 10:43 am
BIGGEST MISTAKE BUCS MADE WAS NOT GOING AFTER SPROLES. I DONT UNDERSTAND WHY THEY WOULDNT WANT DARREN SPROLES TO COMPLIMENT BLOUNT…THE BUCS HAD THE MONEY AND SAT ON THEIR HANDS…WE NEEDED A PLAYMAKER LIKE THAT TO BE ELITE…
September 9th, 2011 at 10:44 am
Buddhaboy:
To be fair, Sproles wanted to play for New Orleans.
But yeah, let’s think about this: Kregg Lumpkin, Darren Sproles… Kregg Lumpkin, Darren Sproles… Kregg Lumpkin, Darren Sproles.
Gee, Joe doesn’t know what to choose?
But Sproles wasn’t coming to Tampa Bay.
September 9th, 2011 at 10:54 am
Brad should focus his energy on chasing ambulances and being an over-litigious a-hole.
September 9th, 2011 at 10:55 am
@Joe, money talks and we could have had a better option than Lumpkin and looking at the game last night speed still kills and we don’t have that element on our offense.
September 9th, 2011 at 11:24 am
Joe, i kinda thought they might have had some type of connection with sproles considering he played at K-state, where freeman and Rah went as well, no?
September 9th, 2011 at 11:30 am
Mossis Madu will be playing before this year is over….wait and see!
He will be our change up back.
Ive learned that listening to doubters is a waste of time.All these doubters are awesome for the Bucs,teams thrive of doubters…..and recent Buc/Raheem/Dominik history shows what the doubters know…. Jack Sh%t!!!!
September 9th, 2011 at 11:32 am
Sproles? Did you not see him blow his assignment and get Brees pasted for a big loss on 3rd down in the fourth?
Sure, he might be an upgrade as a return man* but he doesn’t give you everything you need out of a 3rd down back. I’d rather we still had Caddy, but Graham is serviceable.
*Hard to say how much of last night’s performance was Sproles and how much was lack of practice by the coverage teams due to the lockout; witness the 108 yd KO return the Saints gave up.
September 9th, 2011 at 11:35 am
@Buddhaboy
Morris went to Hofstra, not K-State. He coached at K-State for 1 year (and not while Sproles was there).
September 9th, 2011 at 11:51 am
If you’re going to call the close wins “flukes” then by any objective standard you have to call the close losses “flukes” as well. Anything else makes you a hypocrite.
The Bucs could’ve easily beat Atlanta twice and Detroit once. That’s how close those games were. So we were just as damn close to being 13-3 as we were to 7-9. Get it, you idiotic pessimists?
Man it gets so old reading the homers and haters go at it. How about a little objectivity once in awhile? This is the NFL and every freaking team in the league has close wins as well as close losses. That’s how it is, every damn year for every damn team! Damn!
September 9th, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Ark, Sprole looked good last night, but I am not sure I would say he killed the Pack…The score board says otherwise. Those great packer WR, the cool play of Rogers, and that big arse Packers TE did the killing. Nice return to boot. It was a hell of a game though. Also, someone said the other day on these boards that onbly 25% of the teams that lose game one make the play offs…Let’s all hope that is true for the Saints.
Thomas, note that Brad points to Sapp’s rookie season, just like everyone does to you on the boards. You never even respond to that portion of the argument, ever. He also did not say he has to look great now, he said he needs to be coming along by game three or four. No one here has said the Bucs are unstoppable, but most fans root for their team and feel they are the best in the begining of each season. Again, if seeing the glass half full makes you a sheep…then spouting the same negative BS over and over and over and ovr make you a JACK ASS!
Also, you never answered…If Suh remains sackless against the Bucs for the 2nd game, will you stop your your love affair with Suh (a player Tampa Bay had 0 chance of drafting)?
September 9th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Did Culpepper call Ron and Ian from a nursing home where he was searching potential clients for bed sores?
September 9th, 2011 at 1:26 pm
Chill out there FLBoy. And look at the actual numbers. Bucs had 6 games decided by 3 points or less, and went 5-1 in those games. Expand that to 4 points or fewer, and they were 5-2. Yes, luck is likely to even out over the long haul, but 16 games is not the long haul.
That sort of dominance in close games is unsustainable and unlikely to be repeated.
And bear in mind that if we had won the 3 games you’re referring to, e.g. if Blount had picked up the 1st down and then we punched it in to beat Atl 28-27 in game 1, if we’d not given up that last TD to Atl and beaten them 24-21 in game 2, and we’d gotten the FB rather than the Lions to win 23-20, then our record in games decided by 3 or less would’ve been 8-0. That’s absurd.
If our record in close games had been more even, we would’ve gone 8-8. That’s similar to how Sagarin rates us for 2010 using his Predictor (which rates on net points weighted for quality of opponents) — his rating put us 15th in the NFL.
I’m very pleased with the quality of the team in 2010; even our record had been 8-8 that would’ve been a tremendous improvement over 2009. In 2011, I expect some progress — anything worse than 9-7 and I’ll be disappointed. 10-6 and I’ll be pleased; playoffs and I’ll be thrilled.
September 9th, 2011 at 1:31 pm
Not sure if I agree. Winning the close games is important, that is why most vegas lines 4 points or less in either direction. It is rare that you see them with more than 7.
September 9th, 2011 at 3:17 pm
Good points Joke. The primary argument about the breaks cutting in their favor related to how the schedule unfolded with teams being without their best qb. This may have never happened before in NFL history.
Even the Lion game that you say the bucs got robbed, they were at hone and the Lions were starting their 3rd string, not 2nd, qb. The lions, like all teams are a lot better with their established qb. Add to that list: whitehurst not hasselbeck, Troy and not Alex smith, max hall, Matt moore, Clausen, the Grossman/Culpepper botched extra point gift, delhomme not colt McCoy, chase Daniel replacing Brees with the game in the balance bc it didn’t matter.
Of the 10 wins, only 2 teams will have the qb the bucs faced return for 2011(Bradford and Brees who didn’t play the whole game). That means that the bucs faced a replaced qb in all other 8 wins. Do you think the browns with delhomme in week 1 were the same team after McCoy came in? Of course not.
Add the aforementioned to joke’s analysis and you have an anomaly season.
September 9th, 2011 at 3:52 pm
Well it’s certainly good to win close games — wins are important.
But the outcome of close games is to some extent random. And not a good indicator of overall team quality, which is what Culpepper was talking about. Win a high % of close games, and in all likelihood your record will indicate you’re a better team than you actually are; lose a high % of close games and the reverse is likely true.
Case in point, take Green Bay in 2010. They went 1-4 in the regular season in games decided by 3 or less. So for them, their 10-6 reg season record probably underrepresented how good they were. And of course the fact that they went on to win the Super Bowl supports that conclusion.
Let’s look at all the playoff teams, their reg season record, their record in close games, and how they did in the playoffs:
——
Teams who did surprisingly well (more than 1 game over .500) in close games during the reg season:
NE: REG SEASON: 14-2 (3-0 close games) | PLAYOFFS: 0-1 (lost Div)
NO: REG SEASON: 11-5 (4-1 close games) | PLAYOFFS: 0-1 (lost WC)
PHI: REG SEASON: 10-6 (4-1 close games) | PLAYOFFS: 0-1 (lost WC)
ATL: REG SEASON: 13-3 (3-1 close games) | PLAYOFFS: 0-1 (lost Div)
PIT: REG SEASON: 12-4 (3-1 close games) | PLAYOFFS: 2-1 (won Div, won AFC Chmp, lost SB)
Other than Pitt, the 4 teams above all turned around and laid an egg in the playoffs. In fact, three of those 4 teams lost AT HOME, going out at least one round earlier than they were seeded to. And we all know NO was the heavy favorite over Seattle, but lost anyway.
———
Teams who did about average in close games (at .500 or within one game of .500 in close games)
BAL: REG SEASON: 12-4 (3-2 close games) | PLAYOFFS: 1-1 (won WC, lost Div)
KC: REG SEASON: 10-6 (2-1 close games) | PLAYOFFS: 0-1 (lost WC)
NYJ: REG SEASON: 11-5 (2-1 close games) | PLAYOFFS: 2-1 (won WC, win Div, Lost AFC Chmp)
SEA: REG SEASON: 7-9 (1-0 close games) | PLAYOFFS: 1-1 (won WC, lost div)
CHI: REG SEASON: 11-5 (2-2 close games) | PLAYOFFS: 1-1 (won Div, lost NFC Chmp)
IND: REG SEASON: 10-6 (3-4 close games) | PLAYOFFS: 0-1 (lost WC)
Nothing too interesting in the above.
———
Teams who did surprisingly poorly in close games in the reg season (more than 1 game under .500 in close games)
GB: REG SEASON: 10-6 (1-4 close games) | PLAYOFFS: 4-0 (won WC, won Div, won NFC chmp, won SB)
September 9th, 2011 at 3:57 pm
Note: my latest comment was response to McBuc, not Thomas.
September 9th, 2011 at 5:43 pm
I don’t consider them a hater for predicting us to have a bad season. A prediction is just what you think will happen. It doesn’t mean you don’t like the team, or that you won’t cheer for them.
You, on the other hand, do nothing but criticize this team (Please stop with the BS that you constantly throw praise on a handful of Bucs. The few times you do that, it is followed by slamming someone else on the team). You do it when we win, when we lose, and even during the offseason. You hope for losses, just so you can have the satisfaction of seeing Raheem fired. That is why you are a hater. Don’t try to put yourself in the same category as those who predict us to not be a very good team. You should grab yourself a dictionary and find out the difference between predicting and hoping.
September 9th, 2011 at 5:50 pm
Yes, Thomas, the great Alex Smith is so much better than Troy Smith (you know, the one that had led them to 2 consecutive victories before we shut them out on their home field). And yes, we are so lucky we didn’t have to face the wonderful Matt Moore. And I guess I was watching a different game, but I could have swore Derek Anderson played more than half the game against us, and we even were trailing when he was in the game. I’m sure Colt McCoy would have been lights out against us in his first NFL game, because rookies tend to be All-Pros right away. And I’m sorry, but I don’t remember Grossman playing against us last year. I remember Donovan Mcnabb getting a late TD against us, you know the one where they were awarded a first down 2 yards short of the marker. It’s highly convenient how you forget that point. But of course, had they made that extra point, it would have magically given them 2 points, which would have won the game.
September 10th, 2011 at 1:06 am
big deal, brad culpepper always craps on the bucs, every tailgate sunday last year he always told bucs fans to prepare for a loss. who cares.
September 10th, 2011 at 8:30 am
Hawaiian, you been hit in the head by a coconut?
Where is Troy smith today? Omaha nighthawks. Alex smith? Starting qb 49ers. I’ll take Harbaugh’s opinion about who is the better qb over yours.
Derek Anderson – 3rd string qb Carolina, last I checked. Max Hall out of football. Jake Delhomme, out of football.
Colt McCoy was better than Delhomme from day 1, ask anyone who watched the Browns play since McCoy took over. Do you think the 2009 Bucs would have been better week 1 with Freeman over Lefty. John Lynch and I sure do.
Matt Moore – behind Chad Henne, yes, Chad henna. Whitehurst couldn’t beat out Tavaris Jackson.
There is no avoiding or dodging those facts. The bucs barely beat these teams with horrible quarterbacks.
September 11th, 2011 at 11:26 am
All I care is that they will be fun to watch and will continue to build for the future. I look for them to be a powerhouse in 3 years